Best Italian Food Books

People all over the world love to cook Italian food more than any other International cuisine. This was a banner year for tempting Italian cookbooks; our favorites are below. If you’d prefer something non-Italian, then check out our general Best Food Book Gifts list.

Products are shown in alphabetical order. Prices and product availability are verified at publication but are subject to change.

Buonissimo! Tasty And Easy Italian Food For Every Occasion

This soft-cover book promotes “easy cooking.” It’s true that none of the recipes is daunting, and each, accompanied by a beautiful color photograph, demands to be made immediately. Give this one to someone who appreciates good food and is just getting comfortable in the kitchen.

Buonissimo! Tasty And Easy Italian Food For Every Occasion By Gino D’Acampo $13.57 on Amazon.com

This is a hefty reference book for the shelf of a serious Italian cook and food scholar. With more than 2,000 recipes, it was created by the Accademia Italiana Della Cucina (The Italian Academy of Cuisine), a group founded in 1953 for the purpose of preserving Italy’s authentic cuisine. There are no photos, but this book represents painstaking research—literally interviewing grandmothers and grandfathers at the stove in villages throughout Italy to preserve its great culinary tradition.

La Cucina: The Regional Cooking Of Italy The Italian Academy Of Cuisine $29.70 on Amazon.com

Lidia Bastianich, the rock goddess of Italian cuisine, has chosen 12 of the lesser-known regions of Italy as the focus of her latest cookbook. You may not yet be familiar with Le Marche, Molise, Trentino-Alto Adige and Valle d’Aosta, but you’ll love the cuisine that pours forth. As Lidia says, they’re not her recipes, they’re Italy’s recipes. But she does such a great job, as always, in translating them for us!

Lidia Cooks From The Heart Of Italy: A Feast Of 175 Regional Recipes By Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali $20.47 on Amazon.com

Cookbook writer Toni Lydecker spent the better part of a year living in Sicily to create this paean to Sicilian seafood. Gathering dishes from home cooks and professional chefs, as well as her own riffs on recipes, she has created a wonderful book for seafood lovers. The recipes are accessible to almost every cook, interpreted for American kitchens. You won’t know where to begin, so start at the beginning!

Seafood Alla Siciliana: Recipes & Stories From A Living Tradition By Toni Lydecker $25.08 on Amazon.com

Each of Italy’s 20 regions (comparable to American states) has its culinary specialties. Venice, on the Adriatic Sea, is rich in seafood recipes, but there’s much more in this opulently styled and lovingly written cookbook. It presents the culinary jewels of Venice (Venezia) in the context of a visit to Venice, juxtaposing recipes against the city itself. Buy this book for the cook who loved visiting Venice, has always wanted to go there, or who simply wants to master another of Italy’s great regional cuisines.